I mean the man was a genius. The real word. Very rarely does someone take all the things that make them human and use it as a lens to refract their experience in a way that makes a whole new sun and moon. Always liked his books (still haven’t read The Sound and the Fury) and I think his journey on this Earth is fascinating; but the real reason I am bringing him up today is because of his speech.

There are few speeches that make me feel good and all happy-tearing-up on record. I mean I’m sure there are things we lost at Alexandria and Ur that were just as powerful and that we’ll never know we missed; but for me as to where I was born this is one of the special ones.

Here is a link to the full text of the speech as well as some hauntingly beautiful audio of Mr. Faulkner giving the speech:

Why is the last paragraph missing from the audio? Imagine if it was just some fluke, like the tape ran out because the kid running the Kudelski was so transfixed that he didn’t think to get the backup going.

I don’t know why I think about this speech every year around Christmas time. Maybe it is because, no matter where I was raised, I feel the South in my heart as real as the pangs of hunger. Maybe it is because when I see something as phenomenal as ‘ the holiday spirit’ manifest itself out of nothing but human thought my belief in religious poetry is restored. All I do know is, this speech makes me feel good inside, like Santa Fe.

Tour dates are up. Check them out, because we want to see you all on the road.